Lagos State Government has given motorcycle riders, popularly known as Okada
riders, a 21-day ultimatum to leave restricted routes. The government met with
okada unions on Thursday [Jun 25] at the state secretariat, Alausa, Ikeja,
Lagos, where the ultimatum was given.

The
Secretary to the State Government, SSG, Tunji Bello, who chaired the meeting,
said the government decided to give the riders 21-day ultimatum for the unions
to sensitise their members to vacate the restricted routes before enforcement
would begin.

He
said:

We
have held a meeting with the okada unions on what should be done. We had a
meeting with security agencies before now on the resurgence of okada riders on
the highways. They said they thought that the government had relaxed the law; there
is no relaxation. We have decided to give them three weeks for enlightenment
because we are not doing anything new; what we are doing is to re-enforce the
law.

The
SSG said when the law was introduced in 2012, okada accidents reduced. He stated
that enforcement was relaxed during the last elections so that political
parties would not capitalise on the enforcement for cheap political gains.

“We
relaxed enforcement during the general elections because we didn’t want crisis
and violence. We needed to avoid crisis at that time so that political parties
would not capitalise on it. The enforcement will be in full force after three
weeks. This is a law already in place and it has to be obeyed,” he said.